Part 25 (1/2)

White has presented for its approbation.

The work is composed of six studies for violin, where the princ.i.p.al difficulties of execution which that instrument presents are confronted.

One remarks in these pages ingenious combinations proper to develop the mechanism of the left hand.

The committee approves these six studies, called to fortify the talent of a violinist.

(Signed)

AUBER,

_Director of Conservatoire, and Pres. of Committee._

Then follow ten signatures of members of the committee.

As a token of his artistic value, four great masters have presented White with their likenesses, with the following dedications:--

”Remembrance, admiration, and thankfulness are offered to my young friend White, a violinist very distinguished.

”(Signed)

”G. ROSSINI.”

”To Mr. White, whose talent is an honor to the Conservatoire.

”AUBER.”

”To Mr. White. Friendly remembrance.

”AMBROSE THOMAS.”

”To my young friend White.

”GOUNOD.”

The numerous medals sent to him by the musical societies are homages rendered to his merit.

What remains to say after all these proofs of an incontestable talent?

There is nothing we might wish for Mr. White in what touches his art: in it he unites every thing. He is certainly one of the most toasted and most appreciated professors of Paris, the soloist beloved by the public.

We repeat it, we can say nothing more, but that we wish to hear him as much as possible.

And here his biographer, after thus expressing, in terms the most affectionate and flattering, his inability to say more that would add to a fame so great, so n.o.bly and so rapidly won throughout Cuba, France, and Spain,--here he closes the record.

With all these brilliant and remarkable achievements, with all these rare honors so enthusiastically awarded him by the most distinguished, the very _elite_, of the musical profession, both singly and combinedly, and by the sovereigns of France and Italy, White might well have rested, indulging himself in no further acquisitions.

But men of such transcendent powers, men within whose souls the fire of musical genius so brightly burns, _cannot_ stop; for the essence, the very soul, of music, is the predominating, the all-absorbing quality that forms their natures; and therefore it is that their ever new, their ever charmingly beautiful revelations in divine harmony, cease only when the sacred flame is extinguished by death itself.

Thus, then, it was with the subject of our sketch, who was to gain new laurels in still another country. To speak of the same briefly is the cause of this continuance of his history.

Although born so near the United States (in Cuba), White had never until the year 1876 visited this country. In that year, however, he came to New York. In keeping with that modesty of demeanor, which, despite the many and rare honors he had won in Europe, had ever characterized him, he came to our sh.o.r.es unpreceded by that blowing of trumpets (usually paid for) which generally heralds the approach of the foreign artist; and quietly, unostentatiously addressing himself to the _duties_ that belonged to his beloved art, little was heard of him by the general public for some time. But such almost marvellous power as this artist, this master, possessed, could not long remain unrevealed. People of musical culture were ere long electrified by the sweet tones of wondrous melody which with perfect ease he drew from his violin. That terrible barrier so often, even at the present time, erected in this country, that shameful obstruction, _color prejudice_, could not long withstand the attacks of this quiet yet courageous musical genius; and people, at first indifferent because of his complexion, were won anon to his favor, not alone by his exceptional skill as a performer, but also by the polish, the ease and dignity, of his manners, so refres.h.i.+ngly free from ostentatious affectation on the one hand, or hesitating timidity on the other. They found that he was indeed the true, the conscientious artist, who loved music for its own sake, and was imbued with a spirit of truthful enthusiasm, in such pleasing contrast with the characteristics exhibited by many of the foreign artists who had preceded him, as to render the same decidedly charming. The possession of these rare traits of character served, of course, to add to the attractiveness of a form which was one of most pleasing symmetry.

A knowledge of his great abilities as a soloist spreading among musicians in New York, he was induced to appear in public. It is needless to say that his success was unequivocal. Of the impression he made in New York, a city that has so often been the scene of the success or failure of the foreign artist, I shall call another person--a purely disinterested and competent art critic--to testify in the following, written from New York to ”The Musician and Artist” of Boston of March, 1876:--

”Joseph White is in some respects the best violinist who has visited this country within my remembrance, _not_ excepting Wieniawski. He and his companion Ignasio Cervantes, pianist, made their appearance in this city some few months since, very modestly advertised, and unheralded by any sensational newspaper paragraphs, and at their very first concert insured themselves undoubted future success. This success has been due entirely to White; for, although Cervantes is quite a nice pianist, he is nothing wonderful. But White was a _revelation_. His first New-York introduction to a large general audience was at a philharmonic concert (the date of which I cannot now recall), when he played the Mendelssohn concerto and the Bach chaconne. The Mendelssohn concerto was excellently played, especially the last movement; but it was in the Bach chaconne that he proved how really good he was.